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Overview

Providing a robust USB audio experience, the USB sound card connects to a host computer through a single USB 2.0 connection, to deliver impressive external audio capability that can instantly be swapped between systems, without having to open the computer case for installation.

The external USB sound card features easy-to-use volume control and two external microphone inputs - a convenient solution for any audio application requiring high quality sound with multi-input capability with support for 44.1 KHz and 48 KHz sampling rates for analog playback and recording or 48 KHz for SPDIF.

A more than suitable solution for home theater, gaming or multi-media presentations, the External USB Sound Card is easy to install with plug and play support in Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems.

Designed to deliver a long-lasting and dependable sound solution, the External USB Sound Card/Audio Adapter is backed by our 2-year warranty and free lifetime technical support.

Note: The audio adapter’s SPDIF optical pass-through port supports two-channel audio, this port does not support 5.1 or 7.1 audio.

The StarTech.com Advantage

Full 7.1 audio output support in a compact and portable external sound card

Connect to external speakers through 3.5mm mini-jacks or optical S/PDIF

Backed by a StarTech.com 2-year warranty and free lifetime technical support

Applications

Add 7.1 audio support to laptop or small form factor system with no internal expansion options

Replace or upgrade the existing integrated audio on a laptop or portable computer

Connect your computer to an home theater audio receiver through optical S/PDIF

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How to

In Device Manager, under the appropriate heading, confirm that your expansion card is listed and that there isn't an exclamation mark next to it. For example, a USB controller card would be under Universal Serial Bus controllers.

Your USB device is listed according to the name of the chipset. To determine the name of the chipset of your USB device, navigate to www.StarTech.com and look on the Technical Specifications tab for your product.

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The audio format of your source media may be uncompressed (lossless). Uncompressed surround sound audio is not supported by digital (S/PDIF) connections due to bandwidth limitations. When your lossless 5.1 or 7.1 audio content is sent through the Digital S/PDIF connection, data will be lost which can result in limited 2-channel audio playback.

This issue is not an isolated limitation of this StarTech.com audio adapter, as uncompressed surround sound is universally incompatible with digital (S/PDIF) audio.

Digital (S/PDIF) audio supports:

2-channel PCM audio

Compressed surround sound audio (Dolby Digital, DD+, DTS, DTS-ES)

Digital (S/PDIF) audio does NOT support:

More than 2-channels of PCM audio

Uncompressed surround sound audio (DD-TrueHD, DTS-Master Audio)

Playback of digital surround sound is dependent on a variety of factors, including the audio format of your source media, your playback software, and your audio receiver. Digital (S/PDIF) channel settings are managed by the source and playback devices, and cannot be manually configured like analog audio.

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When you troubleshoot issues with a sound card, there are some quick tests that you can complete to rule out potential problems. You can test to make sure that the following components are working correctly and are not the source of the issue:

Stereo audio cables

Speakers or headsets

Sound card

To test your setup components, try the following:

Use the stereo audio cables, speakers or headsets, and sound card in another setup to see if the problem is with the components or the setup.

Use a different set of stereo audio cables, speakers or headphones, and sound card in your setup to see if the problem persists. Ideally, you should test a component that you know works in another setup.

When you test your cables, it is recommended that you do the following:

Test each cable individually.

Use short cables when you are testing.

When you test the speakers or headsets and sound card, it is recommended that you do the following:

Press the Windows key + R, type devmgmt.msc, and press Enter to open Device Manager. Check to see if your device is listed under Sound, video and game.